Snow and free sled rides for kids at San Rafael's Winter Wonderland

On a bright, sunny, unseasonably warm day after Thanksgiving, it still managed to snow in downtown San Rafael. It wasn't snow in the strictest sense of the word, but it was real enough for the scores of kids and their parents who lined up before noon on Friday for a sled ride down a gleaming white hill made that morning out of 40 tons of chipped ice run through a special snow-making machine.

"It's somewhat of a mystery to the young ones," said a smiling Steve Restivo, producer of the 33rd annual San Rafael Winter Wonderland and Parade of Lights. "I've got an 8-year-old myself and he'll be the first one down the hill."

Sure enough, little Liam Restivo broke the ice, so to speak, sliding down the sparkling white slope in a red plastic dish to the cheers of the kids and their families lined up down A Street for their turn to do the same thing.

It couldn't be soon enough for 5-year-old Ana Herrera of Novato, who was seeing snow for the first time and had never ridden a sled.

"I'm excited," she said as she waited her turn. "It's taking forever."

The sledding was free once again this year, the first without city funding for the annual holiday season kickoff.

"It's a community event, I love it and I want to keep it free," said Restivo, who lives and works in San Rafael. "But we need community support."

Donation buckets were placed around the hill along with signs saying: "Your tax deductible contributions will help continue this much beloved tradition in this time of economic constraints. Please help preserve this great free local event that touches generations."

Although city funds were no longer available, Restivo said he was able to get some money from a fund set up by Target Stores and from a Bank of America sponsorship.

But he needed donations from parents as well.

"It's nice that the city offers this, that it's free and anyone can go down," said Jonathan Emanuel, director of the religious school at Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon, after his 3-year-old son, Judah, enjoyed his a sled ride. "I would certainly give a donation. It's an excellent service."

Booths were being set up along Fourth Street, which was closed to traffic from Lootens Place to B Street. The downtown marketplace was to be open from noon until 8 p.m. A "Parade of Lights" was scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Arizmendi, a cooperative bakery on Courthouse Square, baked extra cookies and had lots of milk on hand as downtown San Rafael filled with youngsters and their families.

"We're expecting lots of kids," said Sarah Wells, 24, one of the bakery owners. "Kids love milk and cookies."

But kids probably love snow more. After his first sled ride, 13-year-old David Boyce described the experience in one word.

"Awesome," he said, beaming.

Sledding and other kids' activities continue from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. With any luck and if funding doesn't melt away completely, it will snow again in San Rafael next year.